Objective:

To evaluate the 2025 ESCMID-EFISG webinar series and assess structured digital education as a scalable and equitable model for global professional development in medical mycology.

Approach:

• Study Design: An observational, quantitative, descriptive study analyzed aggregate platform-generated metadata from 17 webinars delivered between January and December 2025.
• Data Collection: Zoom metadata included session timing and duration, registrations, verified unique live viewers, peak concurrent viewership, and participants’ self-reported countries. Faculty characteristics were compiled from onboarding profiles.
• Metrics Used: Five standardized metrics were applied: registrants, unique viewers, peak concurrent views, attendance rate, and faculty roles. Session duration and geographic participation were also evaluated.
• Webinar Topics: The series covered four thematic pillars: clinical management; diagnostics and clinical microbiology; epidemiology, surveillance, and public health, including One Health; and antifungal resistance and mechanisms.

Key Findings:

• Seventeen webinars generated 4,631 registrations from 1,372 unique participants across 128 countries. Sessions engaged a median of 60 countries.
• Median live attendance was 199 viewers, the median attendance rate was 39.3%, and median peak concurrent viewership was 165. Median session duration was 108 minutes.
• The program included 67 unique faculty members from 23 countries, with near-equal gender representation; 16.4% were affiliated with institutions in low- and middle-income countries.

Interpretation:

The series achieved broad geographic reach and sustained participation, suggesting that structured, long-form digital education can support global professional development in medical mycology. However, membership-restricted access to recordings may limit equitable asynchronous participation.

Limitations:

• On-demand viewing data were unavailable, likely underestimating the program’s total educational reach.
• Geographic information was self-reported and could have been affected by virtual private networks or shared institutional networks.
• The study measured participation and engagement but did not assess knowledge acquisition, clinical reasoning, behavior change, or effects on patient management.

Conclusion:

The 2025 EFISG webinar series demonstrated that structured, expert-led digital education in medical mycology can achieve substantial global reach and sustained engagement. Its effect on clinical practice remains unmeasured, but the model offers a scalable approach to strengthening professional networks and potentially reducing geographic disparities in access to specialized expertise.